UPDATE: On Saturday, Sept. 4, Craigslist removed access to its adult services section, the New York Times first reported. The reason — whether from pressure or a change in internal policy — was still unclear. In the place of the usual adult services link was a black box with the word "CENSORED."

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakleydemanded Craigslist remove its adult services section on Aug. 24, joining 17 other state AGs who have already called on the personal ads site to drop the category in about a week. Pressure on Craigslist has increased recently thanks to a widening belief that the company is gaining revenue through illegal advertisements for prostitution and sex trafficking, despite its 2008 effort to curtail the problem.

In May, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthalissued a subpoena to Craigslist after reports surfaced that the classifieds Web site may be earning over $35 million from illegal ads. "The Craigslist brothel business seems booming—belying its promise to fight prostitution," said Blumenthal, who is leading a 39-state effort to regulate the site's screening process. "The best evidence is the thousands of ads that remain on Craigslist—skimpily and slickly disguised with code words. We’re asking Craigslist for specific answers about steps to screen and stop sex-for-money offers—and whether the company is actually profiting from prostitution ads that it promised states and the public that it would try to block."

So far, Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster has snubbed any pressure for the site to comply, arguing that many criticisms have been misdirected. "Cynical misuse of a cause as important as human trafficking as a pretense for imposing one’s own flavor of religious morality ('casual sex is evil') strikes me as wrong on so many levels," wrote Buckmaster, in a May blog post—he also called Blumenthal's efforts a "a good photo op" for his senatorial campaign.

But his rhetoric has since softened.

"Craigslist is committed to being socially responsible, and when it comes to adult services ads, that includes aggressively combating violent crime and human rights violations, including human trafficking and the exploitation of minors," he wrote last week. "We are working intensively as I write this with experts and thought leaders at leading non-profits and among law enforcement on further substantive measures we can take. We are profoundly grateful to those offering us their expert assistance in this regard."

Until Craiglist complies, the nearly-nationwide pressure on the site will continue. Massachusetts AG Coakley said the sexual ads played a "harmful role" arguing, "The incongruity between your claimed mission and your insistence on promoting ‘adult services’ is startling. You cannot reasonably lay claim to a public service mission yet turn a blind eye to the link between adult services ads and illegal conduct and exploitation."

"Only Craigslist has the power to stop these ads before they are even published," said Kansas AG Steve Six in a statement yesterday. "Sadly, they are completely unwilling to do so."

Buckmaster has yet to respond to these latest calls for Craigslist reform.

Now the newspapers can get back their semi-salacious come-ons, put a little dough in their shareholders' pockets (since no one works there anymore). Others of the advertisers will migrate to Craigslist's personals, where they will clog up the people just trying to get laid without commerce, giving the newspapers pretense to continue to come down hard on Craigslist. Of course, law enforcement, having gotten its way, really didn't get its way because now it will become infinitely more difficult to keep an eye on these creatures and bust them when crimes are being committed. But then, law enforcement and the vices have always had a cozy relationship. Each keeps the other employed.

I just did a search for Personal Ads on Google and there were 131,000,000 listings, including sponsored ads on the first page that were specifically stating sex for singles. So Google is making a lot of money posting ads for personal ad web sites selling sex and no one is going after Google. So if the pressure succeeds in making Craigslist discontinue their casual encounters section, those placing the ads will just disperse throughout the internet to one of the other sites. At least Craigs List is trying to police it and give away some of the money to non profits, although it seems some of the non profits have been high brow and refused it.

Helena, I did a query for Personal Ads on Google and I got a bunch of dating sites. What country are you in?

Did you know that escort services are legal in America? Yep, you can register a company, and pay taxes, if the service you provide is companionship.

Google is already speaking out against crime on the Internet. You see, crime is the real problem. Sex is not the problem. Craigslist didn't want to admit that crime that was taking place on their sit. That's where they screwed up.

Let's start being honest about the sex industry. Bring it all out in the open so we can weed out the scum. Holy Taco is taking a stab at it.